You Didn't Build That

After listening to the Obama diatribe (a speech or piece of writing that angrily attacks someone or something) about whether you built your business, or not, without government, is a little off the mark. Then Romney addressed the intent, not the actual statements, of the whole thing. 

It really made the whole mess a strawman argument (an argument or opponent set up so as to be easily refuted or defeated). In this case both are offenders.

Let's look at what was meant, as opposed to what was said. Obama was trying to say that without government being the infrastructure with roads, services, and all the conveniences available, there would not be any businesses. So, as his argument asserts, you should payback your "fair share" for having that.

Now the Romney camp attacks with the "government is not an active partner" in the success or the ability to do business. That businesses are built by the sweat and tears of the business owner, and not government. That to say, without government there would not be the environment for businesses to succeed, is wrong.

Both miss the point. Update: Fox video:



Government as a whole, whether you are in business or not, would still provide the services and environment that our society uses today. The mail, roads, and such, would still be there. So why would we give more money for something we already paid for? The money that the government used for these things, was derived from the people in the first place. We owe nothing more.

But we DO use these things, and we could not have a vibrant society for business, or anything else for that matter, if they weren't already in place to be used. That government has built these things for America's peoples and it would be foolish not to use them.

So in the final analysis each, Obama and Romney, are having a war of semantics. The underlying issue(s) that each camp is trying to leverage, is based on false premises. Let's get beyond the sideshow here folks, and on to the real issues at hand. America has plenty of those.

07/23/12 Update - I had to go back and listen to, once again, the two-sides on this. So I am making a correction. I stand against what Obama was saying about "you didn't build that" and He is still wrong. Government is a facilitator and nothing more. Businesses were built by people, and not government. To say otherwise is showing again Obama's bias, and desire, to government running everything everywhere.

However I owe Mitt Romney an apology. He was denouncing government as an active partner in business, not just a facilitator. We see the same beast that government, and Obama personally, would like to create. Simply a government intrusion of every facet of life. This not government's role. Obama needs to go, because of his gutting of the concept of individualism, etc. It has no place in America.

God bless America.